How does it work?
A video doorbell is an upgrade to the traditional doorbells we used. We are informed when someone’s at the door when the buzzer sounds when they press the button. We have to guess who’s at the door unless we are expecting someone to visit. Now, this new video doorbell adds a few more features like video feedback. It’s essentially a surveillance camera turned doorbell.
Why should we use a video doorbell?
There are certain instances when we could use such a doorbell. If someone’s at the door while we are not at home, the device takes a picture or video recording of the person or persons at the door and sends this information to our smartphone.
While it may not be such an important thing to know, it will be handy when we need to know who has been visiting our homes. Another reason to have such a doorbell is its ability to record detect motion and also take a snapshot or video recording.
How to Pick the Right Video Doorbell?
Now don’t just grab any doorbell, it is important to pick the right one in order to make the most out of your purchase and most importantly, your security.
- Image Clarity: High-resolution images are a common feature nowadays with digital cameras almost everywhere almost all mobile phones come with more than one. But when it comes to home security, the clearer the image the better.
- Two Way Chat Feature: This is a very useful feature when dealing with complete strangers. You can now chat with them without having to open your door and expose yourself. But you need to make sure that the audio quality is as clear as possible. Some video doorbells have noise-canceling so make sure to get this.
- Make sure the device itself is secure: Since this new generation of doorbells are connected to your home wifi, hackers have reportedly used it to get the wifi credentials and use it to access private home networks. always make sure to buy yours from reputable sellers.
- Installation Permissions: This might be an issue if you don’t own the house and you are renting from your landlord. Get written permission from them to allow you to install a video doorbell or request from them to install said doorbell if possible.
- Power Source: Depending on the model you buy, some are only battery operated and you will have the inconvenience of having to replace the batteries when it runs out. So if this is an issue to you, purchase a model that can be connected to your already existing doorbell. If you are not sure how to do this, however, you might need to hire an electrician to do it for you.
- Data Storage: In order to store all the recorded data, you will need to subscribe to a medium of data storage. You can either connect your doorbell to your existing home security or subscribe to cloud storage. Depending on the bandwidth and storage space, this is an additional cost you will have to consider when installing this. However, the data can also be stored on SD cards and this is the cheapest option you can have. The cloud storage is actually optional and you can have it as an additional backup in case your SD card is corrupted or lost.
- Before You Leave the Shop: If you are buying it yourself, make sure to check all the features before you leave the shop. Everything from video quality to connectivity to data storage options.